A day after his fiancee gave birth, Prime Minister Boris Johnson leads a meeting of his top ministers on Thursday to discuss how to ease Britain’s lockdown amid a backdrop of rising deaths and questions over the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
UK RANKED SECOND IN CORONAVIRUS DEATHS
New figures on Wednesday showed Britain now has the second highest official coronavirus death toll in Europe with more than 26,000 deaths, a statistic which puts pressure on the government over its response to the outbreak and fuelled caution in lifting restrictions on movement in case that led to a second spike.
The government will also face questions if, as likely, it fails to meet a target Heath Minister Matt Hancock set of carrying out 100,000 daily tests for the virus by the end of April, with testing seen as key to ending the lockdown.
On Wednesday, Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, gave birth to the couple’s son.